outline-chapterlisted

# Skill: outline-chapter **What it does.** Builds the structure of a chapter before any prose exists: beats, scenes, obligations, and constraints. The outline is the **contract** that `draft-scene` executes against. **Triggers** - "outline chapter X.Y" - "/outline-chapter X.Y" - "let's structure the next chapter" - Equivalent phrasing in the project's output language **Input.** Chapter position; whatever the author already knows about it (can be one sentence or nothing). **Output.** `{chapter}_outline.md` next to where the chapter will live, following `.project/templates/chapter-outline.md`. Under `chapter` layout that directory may not exist yet — create it, named the chapter id (see `.project/templates/layout.md`). > **Offer the scene contracts as `## n - name - budget` headers** for the chapter file, so the budget sits next to the cursor while drafting; `scripts/scene-budget` reads them back. **Offer once and drop it.** Writing a chapter straight through is a legitimate choice — see `manuscript/README.md → Scene headers while drafting`. > **Write the outline in the project's output language.** --- ## Core principle > **An outline is a set of obligations, not a summary written in advance.** The difference: a summary describes what happens; an obligation list states what the chapter must accomplish, plant, and protect. Prose drafted from obligations has direction. Prose drafted from a summary has only sequence. Every chapter carries three kinds of obligation: 1.